In my last Blackest Night post, about the (then) most recent batch of tie-in issues, after noting my disappointment with them, I said,
Any jaded fans inclined to pose the cynical question what I expected from tie-ins can just STFU. What I expected were strong, interesting stories that contribute something to the crossover experience.
By way of not asking what I expected,
Sean T. Collins simply observed that the tie-ins I reviewed were "created with the more or less openly stated goal of goosing sales for their respective series." And in
comments,
Martin Wisse remarked:
Cynical it may be, but it is the reality of any crossover that the tie-in issues will suck. They usually interrupt the books own storylines for something the creative staff has no interest in and they can't really do anything interesting, as the mechanics of a crossover demand the big reveals and such do not take place in a tie-in...
Almost since
Blackest Night began, I've
noticed,
puzzled over, and even
tried to respond to a widespread, entrenched suspicion and hostility toward tie-ins on the part of much of online superhero fandom.
Everyone seems to know tie-ins are just cash-grabs.
Everyone knows how much they suck.
Everyone can even explain to "newbies" like me why tie-ins
have to suck.
Nobody seems to expect any better of them. But then why are they still being published? Which is to say--knowing all that, with those expectations, who buys them anyway, and why?
Here's my excuse. After quite a few years out of the superhero comics loop,
Blackest Night looked like a good chance to get reacquainted, and see whether things have gotten better in a genre I only gave up on reluctantly and with deep regret. It sounded like a big, fun event that would check a lot of the right boxes for me. Now, I'm not completely naive about crossover tie-ins. Way back when, I dropped
Secret Wars II by the second or third issue in large part because of them. As I explain in some of the links above, though, I also refuse to accept that tie-ins must suck by their very nature. They hold a lot of potential, I think, for interesting non- or quasi-linear storytelling possibilities. They can contribute to crossovers in other ways. Where practically any element of a crossover's main story is concerned, tie-ins can open breathing room for emphasis, contrast, nuance, balance, texture, commentary . . . the only real limits are the creators' imaginations. So I pretty much committed to the full
Blackest Night experience--to giving all of it a chance and checking out everything it had to offer. Since I prefer enjoying something to not enjoying it, I've tried to stay positive, despite naysayers and admittedly some disappointment. So that's why I'm buying the tie-ins.
And that brings us back to the questions of who else is buying these tie-ins, and why? Since I'm not aware of anyone besides myself approaching them with any optimism whatsoever, I can't imagine any good reason why anyone else would buy them.
Is it completism? I could sort of understand that, if the pessimism weren't so thoroughgoing. "Completism" makes sense, for example, when you know a creative team you don't care for will be filling in on your favorite series for a month or two. But if your default expectation is that
every tie-in will
inevitably suck in multiple ways and for multiple reasons, really, why keep buying them? That's like frequenting a restaurant that only serves shit sandwiches (and then bitching about how shitty they taste). Even completism breaks down as an excuse here. If that's your line, quit whining, because you're part of the fucking problem.
One answer has come up a
lot in connection with this last week's crop of tie-ins, and I've been quite dismayed by it--those stupid rings. Just google "blackest night" and "for the ring," and you'll see what I'm talking about (for the record, I've said no thanks to all of them that would have come with the issues I purchased).
Here's a fairly representative thread at Weekly Crisis. The message fans are sending, if I understand correctly, is that a crossover logo by itself no longer does the trick of getting them to shell out $3.99 for a comic they fully expect to suck, but if you toss in a crappy bit of plastic that a Cracker Jack box would be embarrassed to cough up, they'll happily fork over the cash. What fans are saying is, "Never mind good comics--give us cheap plastic doodads!" DC certainly seems to be doing just that in this current batch of tie-ins, including the part about never minding good comics. Well, who can blame them? Fans clearly have zero expectations for these issues, and buy them anyway.
If tie-ins suck, it's not because they have to. Someone is to blame. WHOSE RESPONSIBLE THIS? It's all these wankers paying premium prices for comics they don't want and don't expect to like, just for a few silly plastic rings.
